Victory coach Ernie Merrick said his players were lucky not to be injured after the Reds looked to 'soften' them up at Hindmarsh Stadium in the first leg of the semi-final.

Merrick also said the referees needed to keep a close eye on proceedings to ensure 'aggressive tackles' were policed.

Vidmar disagreed with the claims, and Merrick's comments for the referees, when asked about them at a media conference on Friday and fired some shots back at the Melbourne coach.

He said: "I think everyone is sick of Ernie having a whinge. It's like a kid when he asks his mamma for a new toy and doesn't get it.

"He's been whingeing for the last couple of weeks.

"We are aggressive, we want to be aggressive and that's the way you've got to play the game - nothing is going to change on the weekend."

Vidmar said a positive mindset and an attacking game would be required if his team were to claw back the two-goal deficit against the Victory.

While rank underdogs, Vidmar said the team would be still be trying to unsettle the opposition's finals campaign.

He said: "Everyone will probably think it's a foregone conclusion really so if that's how they want to think, that's fine.

"They are in a very good position. But hopefully we can change that and put them under pressure.

"You never know, you peg one goal back, there's always a good opportunity that you might get another one.

"Obviously it's a difficult task, getting two goals back. If we just sit back and wait then we probably won't get too much success."

While keen to win, Vidmar said the team wouldn't be worried if they had to qualify for the A-League grand final by playing in a Hindmarsh Stadium preliminary final.

He said: "There is a bigger picture here, we are still in with a double chance, there's absolutely no talk of panicking and all those sorts of things.

But he realised the side's reputation would remain under scrutiny while the Victory continued to have their measure.

"We've got to go in there thinking you are going to win the game.  We need to win the game and the longer we go without winning, of course there's going to be all the talk about not being able to win a final and we have to live with that."